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i use zenfolio for my website for my 'barely make any money because everyone wants everything for free and its tough competing against 40 photographers in a town of 30,000' business...

i have folders/galleries going back about 6-7 years. mostly hs bands and sports. how far back do most of you other pros keep stuff on your page?

id like to think that it shows ive got experience (and if you look at the images, at least a modicum of talent) but while i have virtually unlimited storage, i think its starting to get overloaded.

My site is a scrolling 1 page setup sort of similar how Zenfolio is too. Mine has 4 backgrounds at 1920x1080. My site is: landing intro, scroll: to about me, gallery and contact section. The thumbnail gallery consists of 16 representative images of my style. The oldest gallery image as of the last update is from 2006, the other 15 images are 4 years to current. I really like that '06 image so I put it in the galley every so often for variety. Otherwise, I tend to only use 5 years and newer images.

Ltdave wrote in post #19404829
i have folders/galleries going back about 6-7 years.

.....and if you look at the images.....

But no one will. Why would they? I don't mean that to be in any way rude... I am talking about presentation and marketing.

If the purpose of your site is to sell old photos (stock for example) then keeping up hundreds of photos is a great idea. If however, your objective is to attract new customers then you need only enough images to create a great portfolio. If someone hasn't decided to hire you after looking at your 30 best images why would they do so after another 100 that aren't your best? Humans are bad at judging quality. If you have 30 great photos then you are great. If you have 30 great photos and 70 good ones... you are good. The great ones get overlooked because there is more good than great.

If you want them to know you have experience then write that. "I have been shooting for X years and have photographed over Y clients".

Dan brings up a good point. People have short attention spans so scrolling through big galleries is a turn off. I want to see what catches my eye quickly. A page with an endless scroll or sidebar with extensive galleries does not usually get my time.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #19407549
But no one will. Why would they?
I don't mean that to be in any way rude... I am talking about presentation and marketing.

If the purpose of your site is to sell old photos (stock for example) then keeping up hundreds of photos is a great idea. If however, your objective is to attract new customers then you need only enough images to create a great portfolio. If someone hasn't decided to hire you after looking at your 30 best images why would they do so after another 100 that aren't your best? Humans are bad at judging quality. If you have 30 great photos then you are great. If you have 30 great photos and 70 good ones... you are good. The great ones get overlooked because there is more good than great.

If you want them to know you have experience then write that. "I have been shooting for X years and have photographed over Y clients".

ra40 wrote in post #19407658
Dan brings up a good point. People have short attention spans so scrolling through big galleries is a turn off. I want to see what catches my eye quickly. A page with an endless scroll or sidebar with extensive galleries does not usually get my time.

Absolutely great points!

Looks like some clean up is going to take place!

ra40 wrote in post #19407658
Dan brings up a good point. People have short attention spans so scrolling through big galleries is a turn off. I want to see what catches my eye quickly. A page with an endless scroll or sidebar with extensive galleries does not usually get my time.

I'm not into that form of photography, however I would think the best way to keep a site like that going would be to add new photos on a regular basis and let the new push the older ones to the back pages.

That way someone who has seen the site before stops back and there is something which wasn't there before that attracts their attention, you may have the attention of a prospective customer.

I have worked with a couple of radio stations who do that, they weekly post what is coming up and has just happened, but never delete the older information videos, photos etc, allowing someone to go back many years to see what else they have done in the past.

Channel One wrote in post #19409127
I'm not into that form of photography, however I would think the best way to keep a site like that going would be to add new photos on a regular basis and let the new push the older ones to the back pages.

That way someone who has seen the site before stops back and there is something which wasn't there before that attracts their attention, you may have the attention of a prospective customer.

I have worked with a couple of radio stations who do that, they weekly post what is coming up and has just happened, but never delete the older information videos, photos etc, allowing someone to go back many years to see what else they have done in the past.

That would be great, but zenfolio, only adds another gallery thumbnail onto the portfolio page. I believe (I'd have to look to be sure) that the galleries are added to the bottom of the screen (currently) set up in checker board fashion of X number across and then adding another row along the back as is needed

I'm purging the galleries from before 2017 as of now. Might go through 2018...

Thanks for the input and thoughts!